Check Out the Trailer

It has taken me far too long to come around to the work of Ramin Bahrani. Ever since his MAN PUSH CART was released in 2005, he has been a favorite of critics. Inspired by the Iranian film TASTE OF CHERRY, this drama is the best film of 2009.

Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) is a Senegalese immigrant who drives a cab in North Carolina. One night he picks up William (Red West, COOKIE’S FORTUNE) who promises him $1,000 if he will take him to the remote mountain Blowing Rock in 10 days. Solo is an inquisitive fellow who quickly surmises that William plans to kill himself. The perpetually positive cabbie makes it his mission to convince the old man not to end his life. He does so with simple kindness. He takes William to the movies and even finagles him into staying at his house with his wife Quiera (Carmen Leyva) and stepdaughter Alex (Diana Franco Galindo).

Bahrani, along with co-writer Bahareh Azimi, crafts rich, original characters. Savane gives Solo an electric personality with his cheery use of slang and a determination that somehow skirts pushiness and ends up endearing. He seems like exactly the person who would take a complete stranger into his house to cheer him out of depression. It’s also understandable how his wife would not be able to handle it. Solo puts a positive spin on everything, but he’s also an impractical dreamer. He has not followed through with a plan to start up an indie cab company. What he really wants is to be a flight attendant. His personality and ability to speak four languages makes him perfect for the job.

William is a prickly old biker who puts up with Solo because he doesn’t have the will to fight. Solo takes him to the bar with him, plays pool with him and introduces him to Alex,a smart girl, who sees the old man as a grandfather figure. It’s not really Solo’s kindness that William responds to, but the consistency. William begins warming up and helps Solo study for his flight attendant’s test. But the story is observant and honest about depression. William is in a tentative emotional state and the plot is true to that. There is a moment when some of his past is revealed where everything that came before is transformed into a deeper emotional complexity in an instant. West is a patient performer who knows the power of quietness. In not just his appearance, he reminded me of Richard Farnsworth, the star of STRAIGHT STORY. Knowing that Farnsworth committed suicide in real life, the comparison is haunting.

GOODBYE SOLO is the find of film that hits you square in the face from the first moments. But what it hits you with is originality and authenticity. You’ve probably met people like Solo and William; they feel so real, because Bahrani understands them. The director’s style is in service of them — from the classic cinematography to the pacing that allows the plot to build one piece on top of the next and naturally develop tension to its Winston-Salem setting. In the way the story unfolds, the film makes us feel what its like to be its characters, even characters with little screen time. In the end the film remains true to its characters. It’s not about what happens at the end, but how it happens that makes it so emotional. Solo is innately a great friend; it’s how he learns to be a better man that is unexpected.

Support the Site

Buy “Goodbye Solo” on DVD Here!